Love and Betrayals Run Deep
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Danica's been with Silver ever since he took her in as a child. When she meets Jim, she immediately dislikes him for hidden reasons she is unwilling to admit. But after a few incidents on the ship on the way to find a mythical treasure, she learns more about him, and herself, than she ever thought she would. But is anyone who they really say they are? JimxOC, of course!
1. Unadulterated Loathing

**A/N: Well, this is one of those fanfictions I started writing and then lost interest later, but still finished it. So towards the middle I kinda rushed it. I just had so many ideas for a fanfiction for this category that it seemed like a crime to not write it, and an even bigger crime to not finish it. The biggest reason I rushed it is because I have ideas for another category that I really, really, REALLY want to start writing.**

**Okay, okay, okay, read on!**

* * *

><p>Danica was tough. There was certainly no question about that. She had a hard heart, and an even harder head. While those qualities pushed most people away, they were qualities she was forced to develop in order to keep her alive.<p>

As Danica went around the ship getting it ready for the voyage they were about to take, she looked at the boarding passengers. Only four of them were not part of the original crew. The captain and her first mate, Mr. Arrow, and two other people she hadn't met yet.

She had been with this crew for nearly eight years. They were not pretty years either, but there was no need to go into that.

Danica wore her hair that went just a little past her shoulders in two braids all the time with her hair parted to the left. This made the braids uneven, but she couldn't care less. She wore tight work pants and a rather loose shirt, both of which she could work in. Her work boots were well-worn and she needed some new ones, but the ones she had still worked well enough.

She was tying up some ropes when she saw some guy who looked around her age board the ship and look around him. He was…human. Like her. She didn't like him. She didn't like how he looked so clueless as to what was around him. She didn't like how he looked like he was too cool for anyone. She didn't like that he was putting on a "tough guy" façade.

She crossed her arms and walked over to him after the man in the…weird suit thing walked away. "Who are you?" she asked with an annoyance in her tone that she didn't try to hide.

"Jim," he said dryly.

She didn't even like the way he talked. "Well, Jim, what are you doing here?"

"Same as everyone else, right?"

"Whatever. Look, you don't belong here, okay?"

Jim was a bit taken aback. Did she really just say that to him? "Excuse me?"

"I've been part of this crew for almost nine years. You know how long it took to get them to stop trying to kill me? A year. I had to watch my back and everywhere I stepped for an entire year. Now you, you don't have that kind of time. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

She walked away from him to continue her job, incredibly unhappy she had to spend an entire voyage with that boy.

She watched as the captain climbed down from the top of the ship and landed in front of the three men with such grace and poise, it was impossible to have any hope of following in her footsteps.

"Mr. Arrow, I've checked this miserable ship from stern to stern, and as usual," she said with a sharp tone, "it's spot on! Can you get nothing wrong?"

"You flatter me, Captain," Mr. Arrow replied with a tip of his hat.

She walked over to the man in the weird suit. "Ah. Dr. Doppler, I presume?"

The man in the suit started stuttering, obviously flustered that their captain was a female.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" she asked as she banged on his helmet.

"Yes, I can! Stop that banging!"

"If I may, Doctor, this works so much better when it's right way up, and plugged in!" She finagled with the walking machine and he jumped in surprise. "Lovely. There you go!"

"If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!"

"I'm Captain Amelia," she went on as if he had said nothing. "Late of a few run-ins with the Protean Armada. Nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars. You've met my first officer, Mr. Arrow. Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave, and true!"

"Please, Captain," Mr. Arrow said bashfully.

"Oh, shut up, Arrow. You know I don't mean a word of it!"

"Excuse me," the Doctor said. "I hate to interrupt this lovely banter, but may I introduce to you Jim Hawkins?"

Danica's brow furrowed at the name. Even the utterance if it made her insides flame up.

"Jim, you see, is the boy who found the treasure—"

Amelia cut him off by grabbing his mouth tightly. "Doctor, please!"

They all looked to find some crew members listening in on their conversation. Danica rolled her eyes.

"I'd like a word with you in my stateroom."

The group passed Danica as they turned to go back up to the Captain's Quarters.

"Miss Danica," Amelia said. "I'd like you to join us, please."

"Yes, Captain!"

Danica saw Jim roll his eyes and thought against giving him a huge shiner.

She entered the room and leaned against the wall as she crossed her arms. Amelia locked the door behind them once they were all in the room. "Doctor, to muse and blabber about a treasure map in front of this particular crew demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic, and I mean that in a very caring way."

Danica always admired how fluently she spoke. Living with this kind of crew certainly didn't give her such an opportunity.

"Imbecilic, did you say?" the Doctor said. "Foolishness, I've—"

"May I see the map, please?" she interrupted.

Doppler looked at Jim with a look that read "I-can't-believe-this-is-really-happening-right-now." Jim pulled a golden sphere out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to her.

"Fascinating," she mused as she observed the sphere. She took a key out of her own jacket and put the sphere into her cabinet. "Mr. Hawkins, in the future, you will address me as 'Captain' or 'Ma'am.' Is that clear?"

Danica watched Jim roll his eyes and resisted another urge to smack him in the face.

"Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia said sharply.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered with disdain hidden in his tone.

"That'll do. Gentlemen, this must be kept under lock and key when not in use. And, Doctor, again, with the greatest possible respect…zip your howling screamer."

"Captain, I assure you I—"

"Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible," she interrupted. I don't much care for this crew you hired. They're…how did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee."

"'A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots,' ma'am."

"There you go! Poetry!"

"Now, see here!" Doppler yelled.

"In fact, the only person I trust on this entire ship besides Mr. Arrow is Miss Danica! And that's because we've sailed together before!"

Danica smiled. "An honor, Captain."

"This is—"

"Doctor, I'd love to chat," Amelia cut him off once more. "Tea, cake, the whole shebang, but I have a ship to launch, and you've got your outfit to buff up. Mr. Arrow, please escort these two neophytes down to the galley straightaway. Young Hawkins will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."

"What? The cook?"

Danica smiled at his shock. He was going to be a cabin boy. Well, she was just soaking this up! Certainly that had not been what he was expecting, but she had an overwhelming urge to just burst into a fit of laughter.

"Captain?" Danica said. "I can take them down to see Silver. Mr. Arrow can finish helping you."

"If you insist, Miss Danica. Thank you."

"Right this way, gentlemen."

Doppler clunked loudly behind her, grumbling to himself. She smiled as she heard Jim complaining with him.

"That woman! That feline!" Doppler yelled as they walked down the steps to the galley. "Who does she think is working for whom?"

"It's my map!" Jim joined in. "And she's got me bussing tables?!"

"Enough!" Danica shouted. "Just get over it will you? Trust me, she's the best captain you're ever gonna have and you'll be wise to listen to her!"

Jim rolled his eyes again. If he did that one more time, she would not be able to resist hitting him.

"Silver!" she called out. "We've got company!" She hopped up onto one of the barrels and crossed her arms once more.

"Danica!" he said happily as he put his cooking tools down. "Bringin' in such fine and distinguished gents to grace my humble galley!"

"Psh!" Danica scoffed. "I wouldn't call them distinguished!"

"Even still, had I known, I'd have tucked in me shirt!"

"Oh, please, Silver, we both know that you never tuck in your shirt no matter what the circumstances are or who's around!"

He playfully pushed her and they laughed together.

Danica noticed Jim's eyes widen as he saw the metal parts that made up Silver's body. She sent him a sharp look that sent him the warning to not say anything or she'd deal with him herself.

"This is Dr. Doppler, who's providing the money for this whole trip," Danica said as she pointed the doctor.

"Love the outfit, Doc!" Silver told him as his metal eye scanned the suit.

"Well, thank you!" Doppler answered nervously. "Um, love the eye!"

"And that's Jim Hawkins," Danica said dismissively.

"Ah, Jimbo!" Silver said happily as he cut her off before she could explain that Silver was in charge of him. It made Danica sick how thrilled he was to meet the little annoying teenager. Silver held out his hand to shake and realized that instead of his hand, it was a lot of knives. He switched it so that it was a hand instead. A robotic one, but a hand all the same. Jim looked at the hand angrily and made no move to repeat the gesture.

"Ah, don't be too put off by this hunk of hardware!"

He proceeded to make a dish using the various tools he could replace for his hand. Danica smiled and rolled her eyes. _Show-off,_ she thought.

"Here now," he said as he handed the two of them bowls. "Have a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew!"

Doppler took some in his mouth and grinned. "Delightfully tangy, yet robust!"

"Old family recipe!"

Doppler went to sip up more and found an eye waiting for him which had surfaced to the top. He squealed in disgust.

Silver started laughing as he picked up the eye. "In fact, that was part of the old family!" He laughed even harder as he put the eye in his mouth and ate it.

"Silver!" Danica said. "That joke was never funny!"

"Speak for yourself, lass!" he continued to laugh. "Go on, Jimbo! Have a swig!"

Jim looked at the concoction in disgust. Suddenly, the spoon he was holding turn into a familiar pink blob!

"Morph!" Danica exclaimed. "I was wondering where you got to!"

Morph ate the rest of the contents of the bowl and burped.

"What is that thing?" Jim asked as Morph turned into a miniature version of him and mimicked his speech.

"He's a morph," Silver answered. "I rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus One. Aw, he took a shine to me." Morph cuddled his face. "We been together ever since."

"Morph!" Danica called. "Come here, boy!" Morph giggled and flew over to her and nuzzled her cheek. "Good boy!"

Voices on deck told her that this was her cue.

"Doctor, I'm going up to help with the launch. Wanna join?" Danica asked.

"Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?"

Danica looked at him blankly. "…What?"

"I'll follow you."

They started to go back up when she realized that she still hadn't exactly told Silver what was going on. "Silver! Jim is to stay here with you. The Captain's put you in charge of him!"

Silver started choking on his stew. "What did you say?"

"It's the Captain's orders!" She gave him sharp look that told everything he needed to know, unfortunately. "She wants you to keep the…'cabin boy' busy."

They both protested, but she walked back up the steps ignoring what they were saying. It was out of her hands and it wasn't her problem.


	2. Face-off with Scroop

**Who else hates Scroop with a passion?**

* * *

><p>After a rather rough launch, Silver gave Jim a bucket and mop and ordered him to start swabbing the deck, to which Danica had to suppress her laughter.<p>

"Danica!" Silver called to her as she went below deck. "Go check on the boy, will ya? Make sure he's not in any trouble. And if he is, well, you know what to do."

Danica heaved a sigh. What did it matter to her if he was in trouble or not? Whatever, she had to do what Silver told her.

She went on deck and saw Mr. Scroop standing over the boy. She didn't think it was possible, but she actually hated Scroop more than she hated Jim.

"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business," he hissed at Jim.

"Why? You got something to hide, Bright-Eyes?" Jim retorted.

_Oh, that was stupid,_ Danica thought.

"Maybe your ears don't work so well," Scroop said as he lifted Jim up by the front of his shirt.

"Yeah. Too bad my nose works just fine!"

_Oh, that was even stupider!_

"Why, you impudent little…!"

Scroop slammed him against the mast and all the other crew members gathered around to watch the fight.

"Any last words, cabin boy?" Scroop put his claw to the boy's neck.

Okay, it was time for her to step in! "Hey!" she called out to the group. Scroop turned to look at her with pure hate in his eyes, but she didn't care. "Silver wanted me to tell you all that if you do anything that gets any of us in trouble…he'll leave you alone with me. No rules."

At those words, everyone began to back away from her and Jim.

She turned to Scroop. "So I suggest you drop him."

Scroop looked at Jim and released his hold on him, sending Jim back down to the floor.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Danica asked.

"You shouldn't get involved in things like this," he hissed.

She leaned in close to him. "You don't scare me…Scroop." She accented the "p" with an open mouth, letting the sound pop from her lips.

"I used to."

"'Used to' being the operative words. Let's see, how many fights have you started with me that I've won?"

Scroop remained silent.

"I don't know about you, but I've lost count."

"What's going on down here?" They all turned to find Mr. Arrow walking down the steps to the lower deck. "There'll be no brawling on this ship!"

"Everything is under control, Mr. Arrow," Danica said with a smile.

"That's right, sir!" Silver said as he came up from the galley. "If my Danica says it's fine, it most certainly is fine!"

"Well, anyone who is caught fighting will be confined to the brig for the remainder of the voyage." He leaned in closer to Scroop's face. "Am I clear, Mr. Scroop?"

He glared at the man before Silver gave him the evil eye. Literally.

"Transparently," Scroop answered.

"Well done, Mr. Arrow, sir!" Silver said as the group dispersed. "A tight ship's a happy ship, sir!" He rounded on Jim. "Jimbo, I gave you a job."

"Hey, I was doing it until that bug thing—"

"Belay that! Now, I want this deck swabbed spotless, and heaven help you if I come back and it's not done!" Morph came up to Silver and rested on his shoulder. "Morph? Keep an eye on this pup, and let me know if there be any more distractions."

Morph chirped and nodded and watched Jim's every movement.

Danica prepared to move down to the galley where Silver was going.

"Hey, Danica!" Jim called before she got to the steps. "Look, what you just did…"

She rounded on him furiously and crossed her arms over her chest. "Let's get one thing straight," she said harshly. "I don't like you. I will never like you. So here's what gonna happen. I don't talk to you, you don't talk to me, we don't even look at each other, and we'll get along just fine."

She pounded back down to the steps where the rest of the crew was waiting for her. She took pleasure in seeing them shrink back from her. It had taken a few years, but they were all afraid of her and held her in a high position.

"So, we're all here then," Silver said as she leaned against the wall. "Now, if you pardon my plain speakin', gentlemen, are you all…STARK-RAVING, TOTALLY BLINKIN' DAFT?!" His hand turned into a machete and he flung it around all over the place, and even sliced off the top of this little alien's hat. Danica didn't even flinch as his anger blazed on since this whole tirade wasn't directed at her. "After all me finaglin' gettin' us hired as an upstanding crew, you want to blow the whole mutiny before it's time?!" He ended right in front of Scroop.

"The boy was sniffing about," Scroop hissed.

"You just stick to the plan, ya bug-brained twit!"

Danica smiled. There were very few people who would dare talk to Scroop like that, but he really needed to be talked to that way more often.

"As for the boy, Danica and I will run him so ragged he won't have time to think."

"Wait, what?" Danica said as she came off the wall.

"The both of us are going to spend most of our time keeping the lad busy."

"I just got done telling him that I wasn't even going to speak to him on this entire voyage!"

He walked over to her angrily. "Now you listen here, ya may be tougher since the first time I saw ya, but you still take orders from me."

Danica pursed her lips together and took a deep breath. "Fine."

It was a few hours later after the stars sprinkled the night sky when Silver told her to check on Jim.

She rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking and went back up to the deck.

"Hey, at least you managed to do one thing right," she said to Jim.

"I thought you weren't gonna talk to me during the trip."

"Well, I could say that I decided to be nicer, but I would just be lying. Here's the deal. The Captain has put Silver in charge of you, and that means that I'm in charge of you too. For the weeks ahead, you're gonna have to do everything we say. Because if you don't, I'll just go to the Captain, and I have a feeling she'll side with me."

"You can't be serious."

"I most certainly am."

"I'm not taking orders from someone who's younger than me," he raised his voice as he stepped towards her.

"I'm the same age as you, stupid."

"That means nothing!"

"Well, at least I'm smart enough to not go picking fights with someone like Scroop! What were you even thinking?"

"I was thinking that spider psycho needed to be taught a lesson that he's not the toughest guy here!"

"Well, guess again, because he is! He could've ripped you apart in seconds if I hadn't stopped him!"

"I was doing just fine!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Danica!" she heard. Silver came up the stairs holding a pot of soup and he threw its contents over the side. "Stop torturing the lad!"

Danica huffed and moved away from him.

"Why don't you go get some shut-eye? We've all got a big day tomorrow."

Danica began to move towards the galley where they all slept, but she couldn't help but want to overhear their conversation.

"Thank heavens for little miracles!" Silver said happily to Jim. "Up here for an hour and the deck's still in one piece!"

"Look…" Jim said. "Just tell Danica…thanks…for what she did."

Silver looked at him, kind of surprised that a boy with such a hard heart was thanking someone. "Didn't your pap ever tell ya to pick your fights a bit more carefully?" he said gently. Jim's stone-cold glare gave him his unspoken answer. "Your father not the teachin' sort?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"No," Jim answered coldly. "He was more the taking off and never coming back sort."

"Well, ya know, Danica…" He stopped talking when he looked over at Danica and saw that she was moving her hand across her throat in an attempt to get him to stop talking about her. "Uh, never mind," Silver finished.

Danica sighed and continued on to the galley. This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

><p>Danica arose bright and early to find Silver and Jim hanging on the side of the ship picking off the things that got stuck on the bottom. It was clear they had been at this for hours, and it would take hours more to finish the job. She smiled at how Silver yelled at him throughout the entire thing.<p>

She went about doing her own work and none of the other members bothered her. Not even Scroop.

When she went down to the galley, Jim was there with Silver peeling some of the fruit for their dinner. In that moment, she felt like he was stealing her friend from her, which just fed the fire of hate she had inside her. They could almost always be seen together as Silver taught him the ways of the ship. She missed having her talks in the galley with Silver as she helped him prepare the meals.

Silver gave her a look and she got what she needed before heading back up, trying to will away the image of Jim replacing her.

Later that night, she looked up at the crow's nest and found Silver teaching Jim how to tie a good sailor knot. When Silver wasn't looking, Jim tied a perfect knot and slipped back down to the deck.

Danica had to admit that he knew his way around the ship and he had a good enough work ethic. That didn't mean she liked him any more than that first day. On the contrary, she still found him annoying and stubborn.

When she found him scrubbing the deck, he got up and faced her angrily. With a stone face, and not moving an inch, she handed him the bucket of water Silver had told her to give him. She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to challenge her in a fight. Instead, he poured the water onto the floor and continued to scrub it.

"Don't mess with me," she growled as she walked away.

After dinner that evening, Silver took some of the crew members to the galley and began telling some stories about previous encounters with some killer aliens and past voyages he had been on. He used his many different hands to weave a story in the shadows he cast on the walls.

Danica noticed Jim sipping his drink over on the stairs. She slowly got up from her chair and swiped a purp from the nearby barrel.

"Here," she said as she tossed it to him. "You look hungry."

"You guys have been working me hard."

"Got to build some muscle on that wimpy body of yours."

Jim decided it best to let that comment go. "Do you believe any of these stories he's telling?"

"No. He makes most of them up." She turned around to go back and then tossed over her shoulder, "Most."

Silver had Jim doing the dishes from dinner most of the day. Just when he was about finished, Danica and Silver came in and gave him an absolute huge pile made up of probably hundreds of extra dishes for him to clean. Jim looked at them incredulously as he caught Danica's smirk and got to cleaning them all.

When they returned down to the galley hours later, they found Jim sleeping on top of a clean bowl. They looked around at all the clean dishes, now pristine and organized well.

Silver rubbed the back of his neck. "Ya know, I gotta give the lad credit. He does what he's told."

"Yeah, I guess."

Silver took Jim's jacket and draped it over top of his shoulders. The two of them went back up on deck to leave the boy to his dreams.


	3. The Black Hole

Silver took Jim and Danica below where the solar skiffs sat in waiting. The three of them untied one and Danica and Silver hopped in and took off. These were the moments she loved, and now took advantage of. Just she and Silver going off and doing what they needed to do with no one else around.

"Ya know, I can tell ya hate the boy," Silver said to her, making conversation.

"He's stubborn, clueless, and annoying."

"Maybe so, but ya both got a lot in common. His father took off when he was young too. And he's every bit as stubborn as you are."

"Just because we both have jerks for dads doesn't mean I have to like him!"

"He reminds you of him, doesn't he?"

Danica remained silent for longer than she should have. "Yeah," she finally admitted. "When I first saw him, I couldn't help but see my dad in him."

"What else is buggin' ya?"

Danica sighed. "I feel like he's replacing me."

"Well, ya can get those thoughts outta ya head right now. You'll always be my Danica, lass."

"Well is he going to be your Jim, too?"

"I've had ya under my care for eight years! You're more special to me than he is! I've known ya longer!"

"Alright, alright!" Danica laughed. "Enough with the mushiness! I get it!"

"Now that that's settled, how 'bout we take the lad for a ride?"

Danica huffed, but then smiled. "Fine."

They went back up to the ship and Silver motioned for Jim to hop in. He showed him the controls and Jim figured it out in a matter of seconds. He took off fast and Danica got knocked into Silver's lap. After finally managing to get herself into a seat, she looked around and saw that they were in the middle of a comet. It was the most breath-taking sight she had ever seen! When they emerged from the comet covered in space dust, Danica looked at Jim and smiled a half-smile. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought.

They returned to the ship after staying out a bit longer than they had intended.

"If I could maneuver a skiff like that when I was your age, they'd be bowing in the streets when I walked today!" Silver praised as he plopped down onto the seat next to Danica.

"I don't know," Jim said. "They weren't exactly singing my praises when I left home. But I'm going to change all that."

"Are you now? How so?"

"Uh, I got some plans. Gonna make people see me a little different." He put his hands behind his head and relaxed onto the side of the skiff.

"Sometimes, plans go astray."

"Not this time."

Danica and Silver made eye contact. They both assumed he was talking about the treasure, but he had no idea of the plans this crew had already made.

Silver and Morph went to work on Silver's bionic leg and Jim looked over at him. "So, uh, how'd that happen anyway?"

Silver looked at his hand. "You give up a few things chasin' a dream."

"Was it worth it?"

Silver got up and sat next to him. "I'm hopin' it is, Jimbo. I most surely am."

The three of them relaxed in the skiff. It was short-lived as the whole ship suddenly careened to the side. They all ran back up to the deck and saw that a star had gone supernova, according to Doppler.

"All hands, fasten your lifelines!" Arrow ordered.

The crew members went to the mast and tied their ropes around their waists and fastened them to the mast.

"Secure all sails!" Arrow cried out.

Danica, Jim, and Silver climbed up the mast and began tying down the sails to prevent them from getting hit and breaking.

At one point, the rope Silver was working on got hit and he lost his footing and tumbled off the mast.

"SILVER!" Jim and Danica screamed. Together, they pulled his lifeline rope up and got him back onto the mast.

"Thanks!" he breathed as he pulled himself up.

They turned and saw a huge—no, a humongous—meteor headed straight for them! There was no way to get out of its path and it looked like this was going to be it. Suddenly, it started getting pulled backwards. Their relief was short-lived as they realized the reason it got pulled backwards was because of a black hole! They quickly climbed down from the mast.

"Release those sails!" Arrow ordered. Danica rolled her eyes. Before she went back up the mast, she noticed that one of the rope ladders leading up to the crow's nest had come loose. She went over to it and began to try to get it to stop flapping and get it tied down once more.

"Lifelines secure, Captain!" she heard Jim yell.

After some finagling with it, she finally managed to get it secure once more. She turned around and saw a fireball headed straight for her as it was pulled into the black hole!

Before she could move or scream, she felt an arm around her waist and was flung to the ground and pushed out of the trajectory of the fireball.

She was in utter shock to discover that her rescuer was none other than Jim! She made eye contact with him, but could not say anything.

They both went back up to the mast and met Silver up there as they all began releasing the sails.

"Hold on to your lifelines, gents, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" Amelia screamed.

Silver took Jim and Danica and made them hold onto the mast and he put his arms around both of them as they sank into the black hole. At the last second, a huge wave burst from the hole and flung them back into space and out of the black hole's sucking power!

They were saved!

The three of them took deep breaths and laughed as they climbed down the mast and took in just how close to death they had all come.

"Well, I must congratulate you, Mr. Silver," Amelia said as she came down the steps. "It seems your cabin boy did a bang-up job with those lifelines."

Silver and Jim playfully pushed each other as they chuckled lightly. Danica could only look at Jim. She couldn't understand why he had saved her from the fireball earlier.

"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" Amelia called out. Everyone looked around, but the first officer did not appear. "Mr. Arrow?"

Scroop came forward carrying a familiar hat. "I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost," he said as he handed Amelia Mr. Arrow's hat. Everyone looked at each other incredulously. "His lifeline was not secured."

At that, all eyes went straight to Jim. Amelia's stern gaze dug into his core. Danica looked at him with wide eyes.

"No!" he insisted. "I checked them all!" He ran over to the mast where all the ropes were tied. There was no rope where Mr. Arrow's lifeline was supposed to be. "I did. I checked them all. They were secure. I swear!"

Amelia looked at him even harder. Danica's brow furrowed. Jim had proved himself to not be the kind of guy who did things halfway. If he knew they were secure, they had been secure. She looked over at Scroop and saw him smirking. That's when it hit her. Scroop must've cut his line and was now placing the blame on Jim! Her hands balled into tight fists, but a look from Silver prevented her from beating the lights out of him.

Amelia turned away from Jim and looked at the crew. "Mr. Arrow was a…fine spacer. Finer than most of us…could ever hope to be. But he knew the risks…as do we all. Resume your posts. We carry on."

Danica met Jim's eyes for a brief second before he took off in dejection. She sighed as the crew dispersed.

Later that night, she saw Jim sitting on the rope that led up to the mast. She came up beside it and put her arms onto the railing.

"You, uh…" she started. "You saved me. After I've been nothing but mean to you."

All she got was a small grunt in reply. Danica sighed.

"Look…what happened with Arrow…it wasn't your fault. Sometimes…sometimes accidents can happen."

"Don't you get it?" he screamed as he came down from the rope. His outburst surprised her, but she didn't flinch. She had grown used to surprises after living with someone like Silver. "I screwed up!" he continued. "For two seconds, I thought that maybe I could do something right, but…" He screamed in frustration and went over to the mast. "I just—" Danica looked at him sadly. "Just forget it. Forget it."

She sighed and slowly went over to him. "I know how you feel, Jim," she said softly, surprised with herself at how she was talking to him. "I used to be the exact same way. You feel like you have to prove yourself to everyone around you. But then I realized that the only person I ever have to prove anything to is myself. When you realize that, the sky's the limit!"

"The lass is right, Jim Hawkins," Silver said as he came up behind the pair. "You've got the makin's of greatness in ya, but you gotta take the helm and chart your course!" Danica felt her heart tear at the sight of Jim's eyes clouding over. He wasn't one to exhibit his emotions, especially if tears were involved. "Stick to it, no matter the squalls! And when the time comes you get the chance to really test the cut of your sails and show what you're made of, well, I hope I'm there, catchin' some of the light comin' off ya that day."

Danica looked at Silver in surprise. She had never known him to be so deep. Jim Hawkins was changing the both of them.

A tear fell out of Jim's eye and he leaned onto Silver's stomach. Silver looked over at Danica with wide eyes. She just looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders. Jim's body shook as he freely cried. Danica had never seen the poor boy so upset, and it inflamed her to know that Scroop was the cause of all this.

"There, there," Silver said as he patted Jim gently. "Lad, it's all right, Jimbo. It's alright." Silver hugged him tightly for a few seconds before awkwardly clearing his throat and gently pushing Jim off him. "Now, Jim, I, um…I best be gettin' about my watch, and the two of you's best be gettin' some shut-eye."

Despite the "tough girl" act Danica put on, her feminine side began to show and she walked down to the galley with Jim as she whispered words of encouragement to him.

There was definitely more to the boy than he was letting on.

* * *

><p><strong>It's always my favorite part in stories like this when the guy and the girl finally start getting along :) <strong>


	4. Betrayals Revealed

It was later the next night when Jim was in the crow's nest and Danica decided to join him. Surprisingly. She was definitely starting to warm up to the boy ever since he had saved her life during the black hole adventure.

"So, uh, how do you know the captain?" Jim asked her.

"Silver decided I needed a break from the "Killer Crew", although I think he was just trying to give them a break from me, and allowed me to go on a voyage with a different crew. Amelia was the captain, and she took a shine to me. I wouldn't call us friends, but we did form a certain relationship," Danica explained.

"How long have you known Silver?"

"Almost nine years."

"How did you guys get here?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Danica laughed.

"I'm just curious."

"Trust me, that's a sob story that you don't wanna hear."

After a pause, Jim said to her, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

Danica sighed. "My mother died giving birth to me. And my father blamed me for it. It didn't take much to see that he hated me. A few weeks after I turned nine years old, he took me to meet Silver, whom he'd met a few months prior. And he left me there. I never saw him again. Silver became my guardian, and we traveled everywhere together. But you've seen this crew. They didn't like me either. Silver protected me from them for a while, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. So I had to learn how to defend myself. I taught myself how to fight. If there's one thing you need to know in a fight, it's learn the opponent's weakness. So I had to lose a couple fights in order to learn the weakness, but once I learn it, I win every fight after that. That's why all the crew members are now so scared of me. Because they know I can beat them in a fight every time. Silver and I have worked together for the better part of the last nine years. I look up to him. He's kinda like the father I never got."

Jim looked at her, suddenly realizing why she had been so cold to him when they first met. She didn't like men, and for a good reason. "My dad wasn't so great either. All I can remember is how…indifferent he acted towards me and my mom. And then when I was young, I woke up and he had taken off, never to return. It's been hard on the both of us, but Doppler has certainly helped out a lot."

"So we both have jerk dads. Are all men like that?"

"No. I'm not like that."

Danica looked at him. "What's your mom's name?"

"Sarah."

"Do you think she'd…like me?"

Jim laughed. "I think she'd love you. What was your mom's name?"

"Felicia. I didn't know her at all, but I have a feeling she would've liked you too."

In that moment, Danica has a sudden urge to tell him everything. The plan, what Silver was up to, why they were really on this ship, and most importantly, what Scroop did to Arrow. Unfortunately, she also had a duty to Silver, which meant that her tongue was tied.

The pair sat up in the crow's nest in silence, but it wasn't awkward. If anything, both of them needed to recover from sharing their entire history with someone they previously totally disliked.

* * *

><p>Silver woke Danica up early. "Get the rest of the crew," he said firmly. "We gotta talk."<p>

Danica groaned and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Alright, alright! Come on, everyone!" she yelled out to the sleeping members in their hammocks. "Silver's calling a meeting! It's important! Get your lazy butts out of bed!"

Her words were met with lots of grumbles, but none of them dared disobey her. Within seconds, they were all gathered up in the galley.

"What we're sayin' is we're sick of all this waitin'!" one alien said to Silver.

"There's only three of them left!" another really fat one said. "We are wanting to move!"

"We don't move till we got the treasure in hand!" Silver yelled.

"I say we kill 'em all now," Scroop hissed deeply.

Silver roughly grabbed his head with his robotic hand. "I say what's to say!" he roared. "Disobey my orders again like that stunt ya pulled with Mr. Arrow, and so help me, you'll be joinin' him!" He slammed Scroop into a nearby barrel of purps.

"Enough from the bug freak," Danica said. "Look, Silver, maybe…maybe we don't have to do this. I mean, Doppler, Amelia…Jim…they're all good people. Maybe we can find the treasure without having to overthrow them."

"What did ya just say, lass?" Silver growled.

"I just think that maybe we should rethink this whole plan."

"I know what's going on. It's that boy. You've gone soft for him."

Danica crossed her arms over her chest. "I could say the same for you."

Silver frowned at her. "Now you listen here, lass. All of ya! I care about one thing, and one thing only! Flint's trove!"

Danica looked at him and could feel her eyes misting over. She furiously blinked back the tears. After building up such a reputation, she could not afford to lose it now. But that had hit closer to home than she expected.

Silver's face softened for a moment. "Danica, that's not what I meant."

"No, I think that's exactly what you meant," she said sharply. "Gosh, I'm so stupid! All these years I thought that someone actually cared about me. But all of it was just a big, fat lie! As long as that treasure is out there, you'll never care for anything else." Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes, and she knew she had to get out fast before she had to start at Square One again. "You know what? Do whatever you want. I'm out."

She threw up her hands in defeat and went up the stairs to the deck. Once there, she made sure no one was around and sank down to the ground as tears ran down her cheeks. Her whole world has just come crashing down around her for the second time in her life.

"Planet ho!" the lookout alien screamed from the crow's nest. "Ah! There it is!"

Danica quickly wiped her eyes as the crew members swarmed out of the galley. She looked over and saw the planet that she and Silver had always dreamed of seeing together. But after the events that had just transpired, she was not nearly as excited about finding the planet as she wished.

Suddenly, she heard Silver scream from down in the galley and watched Jim scurry out. That meant that he had been down there the whole time, and he must've heard everything. He knew about Silver's betrayal and how she had helped. Knowing she had to make up for everything, she ran over to him and took his hand. "Come with me!" she yelled.

The fierce glare he gave her told her that he definitely overheard everything that had happened in the galley.

"Look, we don't have time for this, okay? Just come on!"

They both ran up to the captain's quarters and locked the door. Danica could hear Silver yell, "We move now!"

"What's going on, you two?" Amelia demanded.

"Silver's overtaking the ship! They're all pirates!" Danica said urgently. "And…I was helping them…"

"Pirates on my ship? I'll see they all hang. As for you, Miss Danica, I'll deal with you later." She grabbed a gun and threw it to Doppler. "Doctor, familiar with these?"

"Oh, I've seen…uh….Well, I've read—" He was cut off as the gun fired and burned a hole in her wall. "Uh, no. No. No, I'm not."

Amelia sighed. The door began to be torched open and they all knew it was just a matter of time before they broke in. "Mr. Hawkins, defend this with your life!"

She attempted to toss the sphere to him, but Morph grabbed it before he could catch it. "Morph, give me that!" He wrenched the sphere from his mouth and clung onto it tightly.

Amelia took her gun and fired a hole into the floor. One by one, they all got through and began running in the passage under the ship in order to get to the skiffs and escape. Jim, Doppler, and Danica hopped into one of the longboats and Amelia pulled the release lever to open the floor. She then hopped into the longboat with that poise she was so gifted with.

Just when it seemed like they were in the clear, Morph grabbed the sphere from Jim's pocket and flew off with it.

"Morph!" Jim yelled. "No!" He hopped back onto the landing.

"Jim!" Danica screamed. Before Amelia could stop her, she followed him onto the landing. "Morph!" she called as the door broke down. The two of them ran all over the landing in an attempt to get the sphere back from his mouth.

"Morphy, come here," Silver said to his pet.

"Morph, bring it here," Jim said sweetly.

"Come on, boy, don't you want to give that to your best friend, Danica?"

Morph looked back and forth and then just went into a pile of rope. Before Silver got to it, Jim got there first and grabbed it from the rope. Then he and Danica ran back to the longboat Doppler and Amelia were in. They both made a jump for it as the longboat crashed down in to the opening before the door could fully close. Danica made it in, but Jim held on to the side for dear life.

"Jim!" she and Doppler screamed as they both pulled him back into the longboat. Amelia released the sail and they began to fly away.

A laser ball flew from the cannon on the ship and crashed into them, knocking off the bad end of the longboat. Amelia cried out in pain, and the whole thing went crashing down onto the ground.

They all managed to get out of the boat and rubbed their sore muscles from the ungraceful crash. Danica's usual braids had come undone and her hair was loose around her shoulders for the first time in years.

"Not one of my gossamer landings," Amelia laughed. Suddenly, she held her side and sank onto the ground.

"Captain!" Doppler exclaimed.

"Oh, don't fuss!" she said as all three helped her up. "Slight bruising, that's all. Cup of tea, and I'll be right as rain." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Mr. Hawkins, the map if you please."

Jim took the sphere out of his pocket and held it up. Suddenly, it began to float and they all watched in horror as the sphere turned pink and Morph appeared in a fit of giggles.

"Morph, where's the map?" Jim screamed.

Morph turned into the rope and ball, signaling that Jim had grabbed the wrong sphere.

"Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!"

"Stifle that blob, and get low," Amelia said. "We've got company."

They looked up and saw another longboat about to land, evidently looking for them.

"We need a more defensible position." She handed Jim a gun. "Mr. Hawkins, scout ahead. Take Miss Danica with you. And keep her close." Amelia eyed Danica scornfully. "I'll not have any more betrayals."


	5. Confronting Danica

Jim and Danica set off into the jungles of Treasure Planet and the awkward silence was deafening.

"Jim…" Danica said softly. There was no response and he didn't even look at her. He just angrily marched on. "Look, I'm…I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he said furiously turning on her. "For making me feel that I was actually important and special? That there was someone who was like me and understood what I was going through? For treating me like you cared? For lying to me from day one?"

"You know what?" she screamed at almost the top of her lungs. "Ever since my dad left me, I stopped letting people in! And after I started working with this crew, I stopped trusting everyone and anyone! And now, I realized that I could never trust Silver, even after all we've been through! When my dad abandoned me, my whole world fell apart until Silver picked up the pieces. But I just learned that he only picked them up so he could smash them all over again! I was right, I couldn't trust anyone! And when I saw you, I saw my father. And all of the hate I had for him came rising back up and I took it out on you! And now, I have no one I can trust! I'm not asking you to understand why I did what I did, but I at least want you to understand that you are the first person in nine years that I let into my life!"

Jim's face softened as he realized that he wasn't the only one hurt by Silver, or the only one who carried the pain of a parent's abandonment. "Silver really hurt both of us."

"It's my own fault. I should've known I could never trust him. Especially once I heard he was looking for the treasure. Growing up without a mom or dad and living with people who wanted to kill me all the time made it hard for me. So when Silver was there for me, I immediately looked up to him. If I had just known then, I could've saved myself all this."

"You had no way of knowing. Neither of us did."

"All we can do now is just push on."

So that's just what they did. They continued trekking through the jungles to try to find a place to hide from Silver and his men.

"Shh," Jim said as he stopped suddenly and whirled around. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I'm not sure…"

Jim slowly took out his gun and held it firmly in his hands as he approached a patch of weird looking plants.

Suddenly, a robot appeared right in front of Jim and all three of them screamed in surprise as the robot landed on top of Jim.

"Oh, thank goodness!" the robot exclaimed. "A carbon-based life form come to rescue me at last! I just wanna huge ya and squeeze ya and hold ya close to me!"

The robot clung onto Jim as if he'd die if he let go. Jim tried his best to get the thing off him, but he would just cling right on again.

"Would you just let go of me?" Jim yelled.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry!" the robot said as he released Jim. "It's just I've been marooned for so long. I mean, solitude's fine. Don't get me wrong. For heaven's sakes, after a hundred years, YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!"

Jim and Danica looked at each other, silently asking if this was really happening.

"I am, uh…My name is, uh…" The robot put his hands on his head as he tried to remember his name.

Morph turned into the robot and made his head a cuckoo bird. Jim chuckled and gently tapped him to get him to stop.

"…B.E.N! Of course! I'm B.E.N.: Bio-Electronic Navigator! And you guys are?"

"I'm Danica."

"Nice to meet ya, Danica!"

"Jim."

"Oh, what a pleasure to meet ya, Jimmy!"

"It's Jim," Jim said sharply. "Look, we're kind of in a hurry, okay? We gotta find a place to hide, and there's pirates chasing us."

"Pirates?! Don't get me started on pirates! I don't like them! I remember Captain Flint! This guy had such a temper!"

Jim spun around. "Wait, wait, wait, you knew Captain Flint?"

"I think he suffered from mood swings, personally. I'm not a therapist in any way…but I—you let me know when I'm rambling!"

"But then that means—But wait, that means you gotta know about the treasure?"

"Treasure?"

"Yeah, Flint's trove? You know, loot of a thousand worlds?"

"It's—well, it's…it's all a little—little—little fuzzy. Wait. I—I r-r-remember," he glitched. "I do. I—treasure! Lots of treasure buried in the centroid—centroid—centroid of the mechanism."

Jim and Danica stared at him as he kept glitching.

"And there was this big door opening and closing…and opening and closing. And Captain Flint wanted to make sure nobody could ever get to his treasure…so I helped him—" At that, B.E.N. started sputtering and sparking and screaming. "AAH! Data inaccessible! Reboot! Reboot! Reboot! REBOOT!"

Jim slapped him hard in the face.

"And you are?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jim exclaimed. "What about the treasure?"

"I want to say Larry."

"The—the centroid of the mechanism, or—"

"I'm sorry. My memory isn't what it used to be. I've lost my mind. Ha ha! I've lost my mind!"

"No kidding," Danica said under her breath.

"You haven't found it, have you?" The robot grabbed Jim and Danica and started searching them for whatever he was looking for.

"Your mind?" Danica asked.

"Uh, my missing piece? My primary memory circuit?" He turned around and they saw that part of his head had been removed and several wires stuck out.

"Look, B.E.N., we really need to find a place to hide, okay? So we're just gonna be, you know, moving on."

B.E.N. looked after them sadly as they began to walk on. "Oh, uh, so, well, then…I guess, uh…this is good-bye, huh? I'm sorry that I'm so dysfunctional. So, uh, go ahead and…I do understand. I do. Bye-bye."

Danica and Jim looked at each other and they both sighed. "Look," Jim said. "If you're gonna come along, you're gonna have to stop talking."

"Huzzah!" B.E.N. laughed. "Oh, this is fantastic! Me and my best buddies are lookin' for a…" He stopped talking when he noticed Danica and Jim's looks. "Being quiet," he whispered.

"And you have to stop touching us," Danica added as he clung onto both of them.

"Touching and talking. That's my two big no-nos."

"Okay," Jim said. "Now, I think that we should head—"

"Say, listen, before we go out on our big search, um, would you mind if we made a quick pit stop at my place? Kind of urgent."

He pulled back some plants and revealed what must've been his home. It was huge and a perfect place to hide!

"B.E.N. I think you just solved our problem!"

Jim and Danica went to retrieve Amelia and Doppler and they all headed over to B.E.N.'s home.


	6. Showdown on the Legacy

"Uh, pardon the mess, people," B.E.N. said as they entered. "You'd think in a hundred years, I would've dusted a little more often, but you know, when you're bachin' it…you tend to, uh, let things go." He watched as Doppler carried Amelia in and set her down gently on the ground. "Aw, isn't that sweet?" he gushed. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" He grabbed a tray from behind a curtain. "How 'bout drinks for the happy couple?"

Danica grimaced at the black goo inside a couple of flower pots.

"Uh, no thank you," Doppler said. "We don't drink. And uh, we're not a couple." Amelia smiled up at him awkwardly. "Look at these markings," he said in an attempt to change the subject. "They're identical to the ones on the map. I suspect these are the hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture."

"Mr. Hawkins," Amelia said with a very strained voice. "Stop anyone who tries to approach." She groaned in pain again and held her side.

"Yes, yes, now listen to me," Doppler said firmly. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds and lie still."

"Very forceful, Doctor. Go on. Say something else."

Danica looked at Jim with a raised eyebrow, seeing if he saw the evolving chemistry between the pair.

Their thoughts were interrupted by B.E.N. screaming, "Hey, look! There's some more of your buddies! Hey, fellas! We're over here fellas!"

Danica wanted to strangle that stupid robot. So much for a good place to hide. Lasers started firing at the robot. Jim pushed him down and started firing back.

When the lasers stopped, Jim started reloading his gun.

"Hello, up there!" they heard a familiar voice call out. "Jimbo! Danica! If, uh, it's alright with the Captain, I'd like a short word with the two of ya!"

Danica shut her eyes, the betrayal still fresh in her mind.

"No tricks, just a little palaver."

The two of them looked over at the Captain. "Come to bargain for the map, doubtless," Amelia said. "Pestilential—" She was cut off by another wave of pain.

"Captain," Doppler said sternly.

"That means that he thinks we still have it," Jim put together.

He and Danica left the safety of B.E.N.'s home and went to go meet Silver.

Morph immediately flew over to him and nuzzled him. Danica was jealous of the little thing and how he was so innocent and knew nothing of betrayals and hurt. Silver took a seat on a rock. "Oh, this poor old leg's downright snarky since that game of tag we had in the galley."

Jim had hurt his leg? Danica's respect for him increased by a lot as she heard those words.

"Whatever you heard back there, both of ya, the parts concerning ya, I didn't mean a word of it." Danica scoffed loudly, but he just continued, "If that bloodthirsty lot had thought I'd gone soft, they'd have gutted all three of us."

"I could've handled them," Danica said.

"You can handle one of them at a time, but not all of 'em at once." Danica chose to remain silent because despite it all, she knew he was right. "Listen to me. If we play our cards right, we can all walk away from this rich as kings."

"Yeah?" Jim said, sounding intrigued. Danica couldn't believe it. Was he actually buying this?

"You get me that map, and uh, an even portion of the treasure goes to you both." He held out both hands for them to shake.

"Boy," Jim said. "You are really something. All that talk of greatness, light comin' off my sails? What a joke."

"Now, just see here, Jimbo!"

"Not to mention after taking care of Danica for nine years, you completely blow her off!"

"I didn't—"

"I mean, at least you taught me one thing. Stick to it, right? Well, that's just what I'm gonna do! I'm gonna make sure you never see one drabloon of MY treasure!"

Danica smiled at him for putting Silver in his place and defending her.

"That treasure is owed me, by tunder!" Silver roared.

"Well, try to find it without my map! By tunder!" Jim shot back.

"Oh, you still don't know how to pick your fights, do ya, boy?"

"No," Danica said. "I think he's picking this fight just fine. Let's face it, Silver. You lied to both of us. This whole trip, the whole time you've known me, all you've done is lied! Well, I'm done falling for it, and so is he!"

"Now, mark me. Either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons to BLAST YA ALL TO KINGDOM COME!" He turned to leave. "Morph, hop to it." Morph looked at him with scared eyes. "NOW!"

Morph squealed and hid behind Danica's shoulder. Silver growled and took off.

"Nicely done," Jim said to her as they headed back up.

"Same to you."

Hours passed and the day soon turned into night.

"Gentlemen," Amelia muttered. "We must stay together and…and…"

"And what?" Doppler yelled. "What? We must stay together and what?!"

"Doctor, you have wonderful eyes."

"She's lost her mind!"

"Well, you gotta help her!" Jim said urgently.

"Dang it, Jim! I'm an astronomer, not a doctor! I mean, I am a doctor, but I'm not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate. It's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate. You just sit there, and you're useless!"

"It's okay, Doc," Jim said as he patted his friend. "It's alright."

"Yeah, Doc!" the robot said. "Jimmy knows exactly how to get out of this! It's just Jimmy has this knowledge of things!"

Jim ran his hair through his hands.

"Got any ideas?" Danica asked.

He looked up at the ship floating in the sky. "Without the map, we're dead." He looked out and they saw a fire burning where the rest of the crew was camping out. "If we try to leave, we're dead. If we stay here…"

"We're dead!" Morph chirped. "We're dead, we're dead, we're dead!"

The two of them sighed, trying to rack their brains for a plan that didn't end in certain death.

"Well, I think Jimmy could use a little quiet time, so I'll just slip out the back door."

"Back door?" Jim and Danica said together.

They turned and helped B.E.N overturn a piece of his home. "Oh, yeah. I get this delightful breeze through here, which I think is important because ventilation among friends—"

"Whoa," Jim interrupted as they looked down the hole. "What is all that stuff?"

"You mean the miles and miles of machinery that run through the entire course of the inside of this planet? Not a clue!"

"Hey, Doc! Doc!" Jim yelled. "I think we found a way outta here!"

All three of them jumped down into the hole and ended up right next to the crew's camp.

"So, what's the plan?!" B.E.N. shouted.

Jim and Danica quickly covered his mouth before he woke anyone up. "We sneak back to the Legacy, disable the laser cannons, and bring back the map."

"That's a good plan!" B.E.N. said through closed lips. "I like that plan. The only thing is I'm wondering, how do we get there?"

"On that," Jim answered as he pointed to a skiff floating nearby.

It took some effort, but they managed to get the skiff untied and into the air back to the ship without waking the crew.

They boarded the ship on the lookout for any crew members who may have stayed behind.

"Okay," Jim whispered as they made it to the lower deck. "We'll get the map. You wait here."

"Roger, Jimmy!" the robot said. "I'll neutralize laser cannons, sir!"

"Wait, don't! B.E.N! B.E.N!"

The stupid robot didn't listen and wandered off to find the wires. Jim groaned and rolled his eyes as he and Danica took off to where the skiffs, and more importantly, the map were.

Suddenly, alarms started ringing and no doubt B.E.N. was the cause. They both ran back to the stairs as fast as they could.

"That stupid robot's going to get us all…killed."

They saw with horror that Scroop was waiting at the top of the stairs for them.

"Cabin boy," he growled.

"Jim," Danica said, neither of them taking their eyes off Scroop. "Go find B.E.N., disable the cannons, and go back to Doppler and Amelia. I can handle this."

Jim reluctantly set off in the direction the robot had gone.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," Scroop hissed at her.

"Likewise."

Danica took off down the passages and Scroop came after her, crawling on the walls and the ceilings to get to her faster.

When she got to the end, she hid and then jumped out with the full intention of beating Scroop to a pulp like she had before.

She came face to face with him just when the power went out. While terrified, this wasn't the first time she had a fight in pitch blackness. She remembered what to do in a situation similar to this. She closed her eyes and took in some deep breaths as she focused on everything around her. Through her closed eyes, she could tell the lights had come back on. She then opened her eyes and jumped up and pulled Scroop's body down from his position over her and threw him on the ground. His claw came in contact with the side of her face and she got knocked over onto the ground.

Scroop landed overtop of her but she grabbed one of his legs and twisted it in the wrong direction. There was a sickening crack and Scroop screamed in pain. He made a gash with his claw on her arm in anger. Suddenly, the gravity was turned off on the ship and they all began to rise up higher and higher. Scroop crashed through the floor to the upper deck, but he managed to grab onto the mast safely.

"Danica!"

She looked over and saw Jim floating up with her. Scroop made a grab for him but narrowly missed. Jim floated up and just barely managed to grab onto the flag. Danica grabbed onto the mast just below the flag.

Scroop was climbing up the mast and began to cut the rope on the flag. "Do say hello to Mr. Arrow."

"Jim!" Danica screamed. She held out her hand and Jim quickly took it and she pulled him off the flag.

Scroop growled and lunged at the both of them.

"Tell him yourself!" Jim screamed. The both of them kicked him up into the flag with just enough force for the rope to break and send him off into space never to return.

The gravity finally turned back on and they fell into the crow's nest.

"I always hated him," Danica panted.

"What did he do to your arm?" Jim asked with a panicked voice as he noticed the gash.

"This? It's nothing. Believe me, I've had much worse!"

"Laser cannons disconnected, Jimmy, sir!" they heard. They looked down and saw B.E.N. covered in tons sparking wires. "Gee, that wasn't so tough!"

The group headed back to their hideout with no time to lose.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope that whole fight scene wasn't too confusing! I wanted Jim to do what he did in the movie, but I also wanted Danica to have a hand in most of it since she was the one who had had to put up with him more.<br>**


	7. Flint's Treasure

"Doc!" Jim called as they came in through B.E.N.'s "back door." "Doc, wake up! We got the map!"

Dread washed over them as an unmistakable metallic hand grabbed the sphere from Jim's hand.

"Fine work, Jimbo," Silver drawled. "Fine work indeed!"

"You!" Danica yelled. They saw that Doppler and Amelia were being held captive by the other crew members.

"Thanks for showin' us the way in!"

The crew grabbed the two of them firmly, and Danica could not shake them all off, despite her previous fights with all of them.

"You're just like me," Silver said. "Ya both hates to lose."

"It wasn't enough to betray me once, was it?" Danica spat.

Silver chuckled and attempted to open the sphere, but it refused to budge no matter what tool he turned his hand into. He looked over at Jim and saw him chuckling.

"Open it!" he commanded.

Jim looked at him angrily and made no move to do what he commanded.

"I'd get busy." Silver's hand turned into a gun and he aimed it at Amelia and Doppler. Amelia shook her head at him, trying to get him not to open it.

"Don't do it, Jim!" Danica yelled. One of the aliens holding her hit her on the face.

Jim opened the sphere and Treasure Planet formed in the air.

"Oh, the powers that be, would ya look!" Silver exclaimed. The planet turned into a flashing line pointing to where the treasure must've rested. "Tie them up and leave them with the others till we—"

He was cut off as the line retracted after Jim closed the map. "You want the map, you're taking us too."

"We'll take 'em all!" Silver ordered.

They all boarded the skiff and followed the flashing line. When they stopped, one alien stayed behind to watch Amelia and Doppler.

Jim and Danica followed Silver while hate for Silver brewed inside Danica that was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

"Jim, I'm so sorry," Danica said. "If I had known that all of this was going to happen, I never would've…"

"No, I don't blame you. After all, you helped me with Scroop. If that doesn't make up for all this, I don't know what does."

Danica gave him a small laugh, but his words didn't erase her guilt.

"I don't know about you guys," B.E.N. said as he came up behind them, "but I'm starting to see my life pass in front of my eyes. At least, I think it's my life." He put his hands on his head. "Was I ever dancing with an android named Lupe?!"

"B.E.N., shh!" Jim scolded. "This isn't over yet."

"Are you kidding?" Danica said quietly. "It's just beginning."

They reached a part of the line where the flash was at its quickest which meant the treasure must not have been very far.

"We're gettin' close, lads!" Silver shouted. "I smell treasure a-waitin'!"

He grabbed Jim and Danica and ripped through the tall plants to see the treasure on the other side. But they were greeted with an empty cliff.

"What's going on, Jimbo?" Silver demanded as the flashing line dissolved.

"I don't know," Jim said as he fumbled with the sphere. "I can't get it open!"

"We should've never followed this boy!" a small alien said as she pushed Jim to the ground.

"Hey!" Danica yelled. She started over to the alien, who gave her a very scared look, but the other aliens just pointed their guns at her and she knew that she couldn't hurt the small alien. She did not enjoy not having the power over them like she did before.

"I suggest you get that gizmo goin' again, and fast!" Silver ordered.

Jim placed the sphere into a little pocket and a green transparent orb rose up from the ground. They watched as a huge triangular shaped door opened up right in front of them.

"The Lagoon Nebula?" Jim said in amazement as they looked at what the door was showing all of them.

"But that's halfway across the galaxy," Silver remarked.

"A big door…opening and closing," Jim mumbled.

Now everything B.E.N. had said before was making sense!

"So that's how Flint did it! He used this portal to roam the universe, stealing treasure!"

"But where'd he stash it all?" Silver exclaimed as he pushed Jim out of the way. He furiously pushed a million different portals and the door opened and closed several times.

"Treasure!" B.E.N. exclaimed. "It's buried in the…"

"Buried in the centroid of the mechanism," Jim finished. "What if the whole planet is the mechanism? And the treasure is buried in the center of this planet?"

"And how in blue blazes are we supposed to get there?" Silver roared.

Jim pushed him aside. "Just open the right door."

He touched the portal and the door opened to reveal several lasers. Jim and Danica slowly went through the portal and the rest of the aliens followed. They looked out and there sat all of Flint's treasure. Billions of dollars worth of gold just lying there. Despite their current situation, Danica couldn't help but feel amazement rise up in her. After all, she had been searching for this with Silver for years and here it was right in front of her.

"This is all seeming very familiar," B.E.N. said quietly. "But I—I can't remember why."

"Come on," Jim said. "We're getting out of here and we're not leaving empty-handed." He started towards what must've been Flint's old ship.

"You know what's strange? I can't tell you how frustrating this is, Jimmy, cause there's something that's just nagging at the back of my mind."

They looked up as they got on the ship.

"Captain Flint?" Jim gasped.

"In the flesh!" He lit up a bit and revealed a long-dead skeleton. "Well, sort of. Except for skin, organs, or anything that resembles flesh. That's not there. And it's so odd, you know? I mean, I remember there was something horrible Flint didn't want anyone else to know, but I just…I can't remember what it was."

Danica and Jim examined Flint's skeleton. They caught sight of something in his hand. Jim looked at her with a small smile, and she realized what he was getting at. Jim broke the skeleton's fingers and grabbed what was in his clutch.

"Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!" B.E.N. lamented.

"B.E.N.," Jim said, "I think I just found your mind. Hold still."

"Jimmy! Your hands are very, very cold up there and—"

Jim connected the piece of machinery with the wires protruding from B.E.N.'s head. They snapped together and the robot's eyes turned blue rather than their previous green.

"You know, guys, I was just thinking…I was just think….It's all flooding back! All my memories! Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuit, so I could never tell anybody about his booby trap!"

An explosion rang out that made Jim and Danica jump.

"Speaking of which…"


	8. Saying Good-Bye

The planet started to go up fast.

"Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure, so he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite!"

The lasers dropped into the treasure and made a sinking chasm. All the gold started to disappear right before their eyes.

"Run, guys!" B.E.N. screamed. "Run for your life!"

"You two go back and help the captain and Doc! If I'm not there in five minutes, leave without me!"

"I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy!"

B.E.N. pulled on Jim's legs and Jim gave him a very, very fierce glare.

"Unless he looks at me like that! Bye, Jim!"

The robot took off through the portal to go back to the skiff.

"Yeah, well, I'm not leaving you!" Danica yelled over the roar of the planet's activity. "Not after all of this!"

Jim and Danica started putting together wires to start up the ship. After some work, the cannons fired up and Jim started to steer it to the portal. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Danica, we are so out of here!"

"Ah, Jimbo! Danica! Aren't you both just the seventh wonder of the universe!"

They spun around to find Silver boarding the ship. Jim grabbed a sword and aimed it at him. "Get…back!" he growled.

Danica didn't have a sword, but she did have her fists and they had gotten her far in her life. She stood next to Jim in a fighter stance, ready to take down the man she had once looked up to.

"I like ya both, but I've come too far to let ya stand between me and my treasure."

Silver approached them menacingly, but before anyone could do anything, a laser hit the ship sending them all over the edge. Silver managed to grab onto the ship, but Jim and Danica weren't so lucky.

Jim got thrown roughly overboard and he managed to hang onto a piece of metal jutting out of the wall before he was sent into the fiery abyss below.

Danica held on to the edge of a slanted platform, but there was nothing to grab onto and she could feel herself slipping. She managed to turn her head and saw Jim dangling from his perch.

"Jim!" she screamed. She attempted to pull herself up so she could help him, but each attempt failed.

Suddenly, she felt Silver's hand on hers and he roughly yanked her up.

"Grab him," he ordered.

She nodded as he took her foot and leaned out over the platform she had just been hanging on.

"Jim!" she screamed. "Grab my hand!"

He extended his hand as far as he could, but there was too much space between them. "I can't!" he screamed back.

He fell further after the piece he was hanging on retracted into the wall.

"Jim!" Danica screamed again. "Silver! I need to go lower!"

Silver looked between Jim and the ship. "Oh, blast me for a fool!" he yelled. He released the ship and sent Danica far enough to grab Jim just as the piece he was hanging on retracted. Silver flung the both of them up onto the platform and they watched as the ship exploded, destroying the last of the treasure.

Jim grabbed Danica's hand and the three of them all raced back to the portal.

"Silver!" Jim cried. "You gave up—"

"Just a lifelong obsession, Jim," Silver answered. "I'll get over it."

The Legacy touched down right in front of them.

"Hurry, people!" B.E.N. yelled. "We've got exactly two minutes and 34 seconds till planet's destruction!"

The three of them boarded the ship and set off. Suddenly, the mast broke off and destroyed the cannons. They were working at 30% capacity. Which meant it was impossible to get off the planet for it exploded.

"We gotta turn around," Jim said.

"What?" Amelia asked.

"There's a portal back there! It can get us out of here!"

"Pardon me, Jim," Doppler said. "But didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?"

"Yes, but I'm gonna change that! I'm gonna open a different door!"

"He's right, Doctor! Trust me!" Danica screamed. She and Silver ran over to Jim.

"What do you need, Jim?" Silver asked.

"Just some way to attach this," he answered.

Danica put together that he must be making some kind of surfer to get to the portal in time. "Alright, stand back!" Silver's hand turned into a welder and he fused the two pieces together. They loaded it onto the side of the ship.

"Okay, now no matter what happens, keep the ship headed straight for that portal!"

"Jim, wait!" Danica yelled. She took his shirt in her hands and threw her lips onto his in a rough kiss. "Come back to me."

He nodded to her and took off on his makeshift surfer.

"I'll talk to you about that one later," Silver said to her. "Well you heard him! Get this blasted heap turned around!"

Danica watched as Jim flew faster and faster back to the portal. Then he ran out of engines and started sinking.

"Jim!" she cried.

"Come on, lad!" Silver urged.

She looked up at Silver with fearful eyes and he grasped his hand in hers. The ship kept going for the portal but it would be pointless if the door wasn't changed!

Just as the ship floated over the place where Jim sank, he flew back up and changed the portal a millisecond before they got there.

"YES!" Danica shouted as they arrived at Montressor Spaceport. "HE DID IT!"

"Didn't I say the lad had greatness in him?" Silver exclaimed.

Jim landed back on the ship and Danica ran over to him and crashed into him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Unorthodox," Amelia said as she came over. "But ludicrously effective. I'd be proud to recommend you to the Interstellar Academy. They could use a man like you."

Danica smiled at him proudly.

"Just wait until your mother hears about this!" Doppler exclaimed. "Of course, we may downplay the life-threatening parts."

"Jimmy, that was unforgettable!" B.E.N. said. "I know you don't like touching, but get ready for a hug, big guy, cause I gotta hug ya!"

B.E.N. hugged Jim and then Jim picked him up and hugged him back happily.

"Hey, you hugged me back. Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry." He started sobbing on Jim's shoulder. "Does anyone have a tissue?"

"Jim," Danica said quietly. "Silver."

They both went to where the skiffs where and found Silver and Morph releasing one of them.

"You never quit, do you?" Jim said.

"Ah, Jimbo! Danica! I was merely checking to make sure our last longboat was safe and secure."

Danica scoffed at him. "Sure," she said with a smile.

"Well," Jim said examining Silver's knot. He undid it and made a new one. "That should hold it."

Silver chuckled. "I taught you too well."

Jim and Danica gave him suspicious looks.

"If you don't mind, we'd just as soon avoid prison. Little Morphy here, he's a free spirit. Being in a cage, it'd break his heart."

Danica looked at Jim with a sigh and then a smile. She pulled the lever to open the floor while Jim undid his previous knot.

"What say ya both ship out with us? Us three, Hawkins, Silver, and Danica, full of ourselves and no ties to anyone!"

Jim laughed. "You know, when I got on this boat, I would've taken you up on that offer in a second. But, uh, I met this old cyborg and this girl who had a really hard head. And they taught me that I could chart my own course and the only person I ever have to prove anything to is myself. That's what I'm gonna do."

"And what do you see off that bow of yours?"

"A future."

Silver laughed. "Why look at ya, glowing like a solar fire. You're something special, Jim. You're gonna rattle the stars, you are. And you Miss Danica, I couldn't be prouder of ya for stickin' up for yourself with this crew…and finally letting someone in."

Danica felt her eyes mist with tears. She looked over and saw the same was happening for Jim. Two tears made their way down her cheeks, but she made no effort to wipe them away.

The three of them shared a tight group hug as tears came down each of their faces

Silver cleared his throat. "Got a bit of grease in this cyborg eye of mine."

Danica laughed and felt another tear make its way down her face.

"It means a lot to hear you say that, Silver," she mustered out.

Morph sobbed and turned into a puddle of tears in Jim's hands. "Oh, hey, Morph. We'll see ya around, okay?"

"See ya around," Morph chirped. He flew over and rested on Silver's fingers.

"Morphy, l got a job for ya," Silver said. "I need you to keep an eye on these here pups. Make sure they don't do anything they're not supposed to. Will ya do me that little favor?"

Morph giggled and flew over to Jim and Danica and nuzzled their cheeks.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Silver said as he started to go down on the skiff. "This is for your dear mother to rebuild that inn of hers!" He tossed them up some of the treasure he must've kept!

"Stay out of trouble, ya old scalawag," Jim said.

"Why, Jimbo, lad, when have l ever done otherwise?" he laughed.

"I love you, Silver," Danica called after him.

"I love ya too, Miss Danica!"

Jim and Danica watched him go then looked at each other. Without any words, they once again pressed their lips together. Morph squealed and covered his eyes, but neither of them noticed.

* * *

><p>Bright and early that morning, Danica and Jim disembarked the Legacy in search for Jim's mother. Jim took Danica's hand and led her through the crowds. Finally, Jim spotted her.<p>

"Come on!" he said to Danica.

He touched his mother on the shoulder and hugged her tightly. She seemed shocked at first but then tightly hugged him back. She noticed that he seemed so much happier than when he had left, like a thousand pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Mom, this is Danica," Jim introduced.

Oh, now Sarah understood. She could see the way they were looking at each other. Oh, how she missed young love!

Sarah immediately took a shine to Danica. With the money Silver had given them, Sarah, Danica, Doppler, Amelia, and B.E.N. rebuilt Sarah's inn.

Jim was sent to the Interstellar Academy per Amelia's recommendation. While Danica was truly happy for him, she really missed him. He only got to come home every few months, and even then his visits were quite short.

Doppler and Amelia had since married and had four beautiful children.

After almost a year of working on the inn, it was finally time for its grand reopening. Everyone in town came. Jim was expected, but he did not know when exactly he would be there.

In the middle of the party after the ribbon was cut, the door banged open to reveal two officers. And then they parted to reveal Jim in a nice white suit with his hair much neater, having graduated from the Academy. Everyone cheered for him as the officers saluted him.

He ran over to Danica and picked her up and spun around with her. When he set her down, they shared their first kiss in nearly a whole year.

The crowd started dancing and formed an aisle in the middle. Jim bowed across from Danica who curtseyed and they danced together through the aisle of people.

The party went on well into the night. Danica and Jim at one point were by the window alone.

"Do you miss him as much as I do?" Danica asked him.

"Yeah, I do. But he's out there. And I have a really strong feeling that one day, we'll see him again."

Danica smiled at him and kissed him once more. He rested his arm on her shoulders and they looked out the window at the beautiful stars. They could've sworn they heard Silver's laugh as he went on the next adventure the winds took him on.

* * *

><p><strong>I literally had tears running down my face when I wrote what Silver said to Danica about him being proud of her. It really touched a nerve *sniff* :')<br>**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


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